Limwire Is Crap

[verdyp]

Why do you think that people buy LimleWire PRO? First they are given opportunity to use the free version. Then if they like it, and want to support its development they donate to the project by buying a licence for the Pro version.

There's nothing wrong there, and in fact all open-source projects are collecting money to finance their development or the hosting of their website, by using non-mandatory donation systems, or making campaigns to collect money, or by proposing featured merchandising.

LimeWire PRO is just that: a small donation to the open-source project, so that it can pay people working on it permanently, and that must still find a way to live, pay their rents, eat, have holidays some time (like you: would you accept to work without being ever paid? may be if it only consists in donating a small part of your time, but not if you work permanently).

So it requires a business: even the GNU Foundation performs some business to finance its activities (the foundation sells CDROMs and merchandising, and it can sell separate commercial licences for the software it has created and released to the public under the GPL or LGPL and that other commercial companies or editors want to use without binding their software or content to the GPL too; as well the GNU Foundation organizes conferences, sells educational courses, and earns from the books it publishes and that you can buy in regular bookshops, or directly from the Foundation).

You're dreaming about what a free software is, and why it can exist for your benefit. The principle of free software is that you benefit from it, and then can contribute too, either by participating to the project, or by donating to a fund that finances its development. You are not required to do it, but lots of people do that, because they don't want the project to be stopped and they do need the software, want corrections and enhancements. This is a very moral give-give trade between developers and users.

The difference between free software and proprietary software is that all is given to fit your needs, and you have the right to modify it. You can also distribute your modifications as well, and even request some money for this distribution, provided that you respect the original authors. You are free to try, and free to delete the software at any time. You are not tied nominatively to another person or company as soon as you acquire its licence. The economical model is differentfrom commercial softwares but it's still a business.

Suppose you take everything wihout donating, and everybody does the same, then no free software would ever exist because there would be nobody to create it, and nobody willingto distribute it.

This is not a scam; unlike the many that have florished that collect moeny without participating to the project, and that abuse their customers with falsified trademarks and copyrights, and without even crediting the true developers of the software they distribute (and often pollute as well by integrating adwares and spywares which are not even present in any source...).